Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/156

132 upon by Penn and the emigrants, who proposed to settle in Pennsylvania.

In order to prevent all future pretence of claim on the part of the Duke of York, or his heirs, Penn obtained of the Duke his deed of release for it; and, as an additional territory, he procured of him also his right and interest in that tract of land, which was at first called the territories of Pennsylvania, afterwards "the three lower counties on the Delaware."

Every preliminary arrangement having been completed, Penn set sail, accompanied by a hundred emigrants, and during the year was followed by more than twenty ships, all of which arrived in safety. His own voyage was long and disastrous; the small pox broke out on board, and cut off thirty of the passengers. At length, toward the end of October, the ship entered the broad and majestic Delaware, and came to an anchor at Newcastle. As soon as the news of Penn's arrival was spread abroad, the magistrates and settlers flocked together, to greet him at the court-house; his title-deeds were produced; and he conciliated the assembled multitude with promises of civil and religious freedom. Continuing his ascent of the river, he landed at Upland, or Chester, where he found a plain, simple, industrious population, composed of Swedish Lutherans and Quakers, who had established themselves in a country which, from the purity of the air and water, the freshness and beauty of the landscape, and the rich abundance of all sorts of provisions, he declared, in his enthusiasm, that "an Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be well contented with." Markham had already commenced the erection of a mansion house for Penn some distance further up the river, nearly opposite the present city of Burlington.

Early in the month of December, 1682, having paid a visit to his friends in New Jersey, and on Long Island, Penn returned to Chester to give his earnest attention to the settling the government, arranging the question of boundaries, and propitiating the good will of the natives. Instead of all the freemen, as Penn's writ of summons had requested, only twelve delegates from each of the six counties appeared: eighteen of these were constituted a council and the remainder an Assembly. In future, too, the Assembly was to consist of thirty-six members only, six from each county, to be chosen annually, with a council composed of three members for each county, to hold their seats for three years, one being chosen each year. The restriction of the governor to three votes was dropped, and the governor and council were to possess jointly the right of proposing laws. This enlargement of the proprietary's power, according to Penn's account of the matter, was the spontaneous movement of the freemen themselves; hence he was not guilty, as some twenty years later it was charged upon him, of using undue influence and violating his original promise. A code of laws was enacted nearly resembling those already agreed upon in England between the emigrants and Penn. Its broad outlines were on the whole worthy of his